Urban Sci Fi

The Backdrop

An alien wolf crashes into a city community, which channels his world back home. He encounters inhabitants who turn out to be from another dimension in the year 2060. While the characters are still being developed, the story sets you up for a surrealistic dream like short story about the protagonist himself and his companion Yeutobi.

The Chronicles of Zaraith

Fantasy Grounded in Realness

After dusting himself off, Zaraith quickly took notes of what stood out. Other forms of transportation such as space craft has been replaced by solar power tripods. These gliders came with long legs which were equipped for wide strides and powerful travel.

If that wasn't enough, housing consisted of mostly metallic shaped domes that could perform automatic temperature adjustments. It was apparent that nature was is in complete harmony with itself, since its inhabitants had learned how to harness pain and convert it to energy.

There were mini cameras impregnated by the branches on the trees. The lenses settled in and out under the hood of forest limbs like bubbles erupting into silence. During long periods of community inactivity, these camcorders were deprived of the oxygen they needed for full coverage. The lenses then became easier to detect. When the community was active mid day, they began to breathe as the contractions started. It was unclear if these ecological watchtowers actually worked or not but the perception that they might; was enough to ward off any sub-normative behavior.

In the mood of an aquatic underground, there were so different types of people living together, yet they managed to live in perfect synchronicity. Different color jumpsuits (like schools of fish) passed by from muted yellow to purple to red and green. These gradations were designed with the metallic that was left over from the creation of residential areas. They proved to be flexible enough to safe guard children from bruises, as well as, providing comfortable adult wear. Each suit had a unique symbol on it which was the emblem for each kingdom sect.

The distant horizon was a coral sand dune, which began to reach into the sienna heaven. This was easily contrasted by paradise, which came with a full feature line-up. The ground was split up into divergent paths with long intermittent walkways specifically designed for activities such as play, work and travel. The iridescence played out against the landscape architecture and encouraged a sense of be-wonderment. Zaraith pondered over far away you could actually be and still see this terrestrial drive-in.

The aroma in the air began to oscillate between honeysuckle and rosewood. He was accosted by impulses such as taste and smell, who were fed from the astral realm. The incense played several medleys for his receptors. This helped his sensitivity to low frequency by constraining his ability to react to noise. It was hard for his senses not to become entangled but he broke away from his observations.

In an attempt to obtain directions, he befriends a Nubian woman by the name of Yeutobi. He first noticed her that her feisty curls had shards of fuschia. Her lips were painted silver below drinking glass eyes, that held a resolution of roughly 2400x1200 dpi. This drag queen mirage began to repel the stream of sun that flows like honey from the sky God.

He thought of her as being someone who held tradition in great esteem and being likely to place herself on the line but not as likely to live solely for its sake. She offered Zaraith some stylish threads, in exchange for stories about his kingdom. Curiosities grew so much that they couldn't help but to enjoy each other's company. They broke away from storytelling to run some errands, which includes the store. In the process, he was sure to learn more about life at this dimension, also known as Ochieng.

Their first stop was a convenient store where they were startled by a tantrum. They see a child with a large untamed Afro screaming in the mother's shopping cart. The angry child was wrestling with a box of morning breakfast cereal who couldn't decide if it wanted to stay or go. Yeutobi immediately went over to the woman and says "take this child home and comb his hair so that he will act better." Realizing that it wouldn't take much for her baby to be a bum; the woman took him out of the store on her hip. "He doesn't have sense enough to know when he's tired," she mumbled.

Zaraith felt anything but separation anxiety in the skin of his new surroundings. He so admired Yeutobi's ways which were in alignment with many of his own principles like perseverance, solidarity and compassion. These attributes led the people of Ochieng; the Qwataun into divine favor after a single lifetime of colonization under the Ashek'tua rule. Even the sternest rules of thumb are subject to cancellation when certain conditions are met. Apparently, Qwataun wasn't the only civilization to make this discovery and have a pool of examples to draw from.

They next pass by a community center for youth, which was a breeding ground for talent. The teenagers there seem to descend like roaches into the urban stratosphere. The sounds of "Float On" by the Floaters filled the air and the lyrics were more alive than they've ever been. Young men and women were savoring the music much in the same way the spirit appreciates peach cobbler, air brushed t-shirts and re-runs from Coolie High.

They next spotted a woman across the street wearing the Garfield Park Conservatory as a diamond ring on the finger. It was given to her by her fiance, as a rather eccentric artifact. When hit by the right amount of light, the gem displayed holographic images that danced before you. It revealed the history of this cultural sphere from a racetrack, to a gentleman's club, to a slaughterhouse. The transformation of urban space was alive.

To the right was a talking wall covered in graffiti art. Zaraith went over to touch the painting and asked "how did you get here?" The wall replied, "one of the neighborhood children painted me 10 years ago." Fresh spray paint rubbed off on Zaraith's hand and this alien body art took the place of photos, which no longer existed. He stood in awe looking at the imprint in his palm, which would eventually be downloaded to a computer database. It's goal would be to provide text articles with images about his odyssey, for the daemon wolf elders to review.

They next pass a group of girls jumping double dutch, while an older lady watched vehemently from the window. There was no better way to take in the view than with an artificial aid to soothe the soul, so she enjoyed her cookies and milk. As the children jumped, they did tricks inside the turning ropes. These served as a way to narrate their healing from accidents, violence, loss and betrayal that was otherwise incommunicable.

Watching the children gave him clues into his own personal journey. In their interaction, he noticed that none of these girls had names which ended in the letter A. This was due to the fact that parents refused the ethnic tradition of giving these names to their daughters. They certainly didn't want to help these young women into the type of despondent group think, which contributed to their socio-economic terror sixty years ago.

No longer watching where he was going; Zaraith stumbles into a bed of tulips that flutter beneath his feet. They carry him into the clouds where he was able to enjoy the delicacies of celestial splendor. When the clouds gave him back, Yeutobi decides that it was time for them both to replenish their bodies. They go to her house where she prepares a wonderful meal. After eating, Zaraith was so tired that he had to rest. Hours passed with him just resting thinking about the day's events. The future even in another dimension manages to reinvent an awful lot of the past. He falls asleep on this notion. It drifts above the moon and he is slowly transported home.